Karan Thapar does a great job of making Kamal Nath admit that reservations are not the same as Affirmative Action on Devil's Advocate.
Highlights:
We must recognise that in our country, when we are on this growth trajectory - like never before - this growth cannot be urban-centric, class-centric or region-centric. We have to ensure all-inclusive growth.
A round of applause for our Commerce and Industry minister, please. A reader complained when we called him illiterate. Does not even understand basic economics.
But when, over these last 50 years, something is not happening, it is imperative for us to address it. There are many things, which have not happened.
We have had reservations for SC/STs for the last 50 years and something is not happening. Any thoughts on that?
First we want to try the voluntary process. If it does not work then the government will have to look at it. We will then have to look at other options.
Heard that lathi-charge worked great on the striking medicos.
So if they are doing it then they should say please enforce it because they are already doing it. Then why should anybody resist it?
Yeah, they should really say rape us some more, we are already being raped.
I am not dissociating. Our figures do not prove it. I am the industry minister. I am telling you on record our figures do not prove it, Finished.
Yep, case closed. We want reservations because I said so. Facts and figures? What are they?
If there is captive area, if there is a district with high ST/SC and OBC population, and we incentivise industry to go there and set up industry there, to invest in that district, the captive area that they get to employ will be amongst those people.
Well, good luck with getting industries to SC/ST and OBC concentrated areas.
If they say we are going to put our Rs 100 crore and employ 20 people, it doesn't serve my purpose. I want them to create employment opportunities.
Not enough votes, eh?
There is no question of self-interest. Everything is based on self-interest, right?
So, your self-interest matters. The freeloader who wants a free seat, his self-interest matters. But the industrious and the enterprising, who create wealth, their self-interest doesn't?
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Mayhem in markets
The BSE Sensex took a precipitous plunge. Much of it is of course driven by the US interest rate hike and a long awaited pullback.But why are institutional investors offloading so much? What do they know that we don't?
Developing.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Thugs reveal their true nature
The All India Minorities Front (AIMF) on Sunday threatened to take on the striking medicos on the streets unless they called off their agitation against the quota-hike.
Yep, we have seen it all before. Booth capture, intimidation and various other acts of thuggery.
The power seekers (looters) get the money to do this by taxing the producer unmercifully, convincing him that this is a good thing. They accomplish this by conning him into accepting the "looter's creed: "FROM each according to his ABILITY and TO each according to his NEED," making "need" a demand upon the creative and productive work and earnings of the producer. Thus the producer is looted by the power seeker, who gives most of the loot to the moocher, who does nothing to earn anything except to continue to vote the way the looter wants him to vote. (link)
There were some tense moments in the afternoon when a group of 40-odd pro-reservation supporters, led by Dalit leader Udit Raj, arrived at the institute and rushed towards the lawns.
The AIMF is nothing but hired goons of the looters. What is the takeaway from this? Well, this shows you what will become of the premier institutes once the thugs gain majority there. I covered this in some detail in another post.
Yep, we have seen it all before. Booth capture, intimidation and various other acts of thuggery.
The power seekers (looters) get the money to do this by taxing the producer unmercifully, convincing him that this is a good thing. They accomplish this by conning him into accepting the "looter's creed: "FROM each according to his ABILITY and TO each according to his NEED," making "need" a demand upon the creative and productive work and earnings of the producer. Thus the producer is looted by the power seeker, who gives most of the loot to the moocher, who does nothing to earn anything except to continue to vote the way the looter wants him to vote. (link)
There were some tense moments in the afternoon when a group of 40-odd pro-reservation supporters, led by Dalit leader Udit Raj, arrived at the institute and rushed towards the lawns.
The AIMF is nothing but hired goons of the looters. What is the takeaway from this? Well, this shows you what will become of the premier institutes once the thugs gain majority there. I covered this in some detail in another post.
Annie mouthing off again
Annie from The Other India blog has written a new post in her blog. I guess after her previous post stirred up a hornet's nest at the more widely read The Other India, she has decided to write a post in the relative calm anonymity of her own turf and lick her wounds for a while.
In this post Annie has vowed to put her money where her mouth is.
The third is a very pertinent question - because it all comes down to putting your money where your mouth is.
Absolutely, you got that point all right.
My answer: firstly, reservations do not imply charity.
No, they imply Government sanctioned bank robbery. There is a difference for sure.
Let's say I have this little dhaba by the highway and I need a cook. Given a choice between candidate A and candidate B, both being competant (sic), I'd give the job to whoever needed it more.
We have absolutely no problem with this. If you ever own a Dhaba, go ahead and hire all the people you want. After all, it is your own money. As a matter of fact we won't even question you about the validity and relative social justice which you carefully map out.
What you don't seem to get, Miss Pea-brain, is that you don't have the right to tell us who we should hire for our Dhaba. That's not for you to decide.
Also, you would sound a lot more credible if you had actually opened a Dhaba and stopped mooching off various Government programs and aids. Until then, please don't ask us to put our money where your mouth is.
In this post Annie has vowed to put her money where her mouth is.
The third is a very pertinent question - because it all comes down to putting your money where your mouth is.
Absolutely, you got that point all right.
My answer: firstly, reservations do not imply charity.
No, they imply Government sanctioned bank robbery. There is a difference for sure.
Let's say I have this little dhaba by the highway and I need a cook. Given a choice between candidate A and candidate B, both being competant (sic), I'd give the job to whoever needed it more.
We have absolutely no problem with this. If you ever own a Dhaba, go ahead and hire all the people you want. After all, it is your own money. As a matter of fact we won't even question you about the validity and relative social justice which you carefully map out.
What you don't seem to get, Miss Pea-brain, is that you don't have the right to tell us who we should hire for our Dhaba. That's not for you to decide.
Also, you would sound a lot more credible if you had actually opened a Dhaba and stopped mooching off various Government programs and aids. Until then, please don't ask us to put our money where your mouth is.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
How to increase capacity of IITs
Update: It appears that the pro-reservation camp has won the round one of the war against reservations. We reach this conclusion based on their sweeping victory in their vicious misinformation campaign by calling the quota system as affirmative action. We are hardly surprised that politically motivated ministers such as Arjun Singh and Kamal Nath use this misnomer, but when Yahoo news picked up the medico strike story and gave it the headline of Indian MDs Strike Over Affirmative Action, we were devastated.
As a matter of fact, reservations itself is a misnomer. "Reservation" suggests something secured with legitimacy, such as the extra premium one pays for railway reservations. We should really call it free seats.
T.A. Abinandanan and many other pro-reservation bloggers keep on pondering over the issue of increasing seats in IITs and other institutes. We are all for it, except that the true intent is to increase seats and still impose quotas. As a matter of fact, we feel that this is the compromise the Arjun Singh lobby will eventually come up with.
Here is how you can increase the seats of premier institutes by 22.5% and those of other institutes by 50% in one fell sweep (*), zero investment and zero lag time.
Abolish all quotas. Right now.
You heard it here first.
(*) If you want to be anal about it, the Math isn't quite right. But you get the point.
As a matter of fact, reservations itself is a misnomer. "Reservation" suggests something secured with legitimacy, such as the extra premium one pays for railway reservations. We should really call it free seats.
T.A. Abinandanan and many other pro-reservation bloggers keep on pondering over the issue of increasing seats in IITs and other institutes. We are all for it, except that the true intent is to increase seats and still impose quotas. As a matter of fact, we feel that this is the compromise the Arjun Singh lobby will eventually come up with.
Here is how you can increase the seats of premier institutes by 22.5% and those of other institutes by 50% in one fell sweep (*), zero investment and zero lag time.
Abolish all quotas. Right now.
You heard it here first.
(*) If you want to be anal about it, the Math isn't quite right. But you get the point.
Breaking News: Rickshawala's kid cracks IIT-JEE
"Amidst the burning effigies and the numerous, not so passive scuffles between students and the police, here is a story of the son of a rickshaw puller who got through IIT-Kharagpur -- not piggy backing on the reservations, but through sheer hard work. "
Freeloaders, are you reading this?
Communist bloggers, will you publish this story?
Freeloaders, are you reading this?
Communist bloggers, will you publish this story?
Monday, May 15, 2006
Dear Sir
Are you having fun? 'cause we are. Heard that the medicos bypassed you. Don't let that slow you down.You have lots of supporters, trust us.
Yeah, clap clap clap.
How reservation kills Dalits
Shivam Vij (alias Albert Krishna Ali Note: don't even ask) of The Other India writes:
Upper castes are no doubt meritocratic (which is why sons inherit fathers's (sic) businesses), and they are no doubt oblivious to caste (just see the matrimonial pages), but there is the hint of vested interest here.
To internalize an expression from blogger RealityCheck, are you shell shocked? Let's see what your interests are here. Being the son of a stinky rich well connected father, you got into St. Stephen's riding your papa's donations. Now you want us to give up our money? How about giving up some of your papa's money first dude?
This is the problem with communists. They want us to give up our money while they continue to exploit the system. The truth is, quotas are a low hanging political fruit for easy plucking by the likes of Arjun Singh. They don't help anyone, they derail the country's progress and waste precious resources.
Question: Imagine all quotas, SC/ST/OBC, jobs, schools etc. are summarily repealed starting tomorrow. How many Dalits will die?
If you answered zero, don't start patting yourself on the back yet. Actually, the answer is in the negative, in millions. Just imagine the hundreds of crores the government spends just to administer the quota. Then add to it the precious seats that go unfulfilled in IITs each year because they can't find enough Dalits. Yeah, the fixed cost thing. Then imagine the lost productivity by releasing the sub-par (*) output on to the unsuspecting market.
The current fiasco is specifically about adding OBC reservation to premier institutes (well, the private sector thing is there too, but before that comes, someone will pull a Rang De Basanti on Arjun Singh I am sure). In other words about 2000 seats per year. By the dubious stats generated by the government, there are at least 500 million OBCs in the country. So, how many years do you think will it take? Yeah, about 250,000 years. So much for the quota math!
A better strategy would be just to confiscate all the wealth and property from all the upper-caste people and giving it away to Dalits and OBCs. Far more effective I think. It will have two effects, first the upper-caste people (and wealthy Dalits/OBCs too) will scram from the country faster than you can say "quota". Second, India will regress back into the hell-hole that it was before 1991, summarily.
Reservation is just government sanctioned bank robbery. Anyway you cut it.
(*) Well, don't say this in front of a communist. They will start screaming: merit is a farce.
Update: We are receiving anonymous tips on the communist bloggers at The Other India. We will be forced to expose the profiles of these bloggers, can't hold back public demand any longer. We hate to get personal, but you are asking for it dudes.
Upper castes are no doubt meritocratic (which is why sons inherit fathers's (sic) businesses), and they are no doubt oblivious to caste (just see the matrimonial pages), but there is the hint of vested interest here.
To internalize an expression from blogger RealityCheck, are you shell shocked? Let's see what your interests are here. Being the son of a stinky rich well connected father, you got into St. Stephen's riding your papa's donations. Now you want us to give up our money? How about giving up some of your papa's money first dude?
This is the problem with communists. They want us to give up our money while they continue to exploit the system. The truth is, quotas are a low hanging political fruit for easy plucking by the likes of Arjun Singh. They don't help anyone, they derail the country's progress and waste precious resources.
Question: Imagine all quotas, SC/ST/OBC, jobs, schools etc. are summarily repealed starting tomorrow. How many Dalits will die?
If you answered zero, don't start patting yourself on the back yet. Actually, the answer is in the negative, in millions. Just imagine the hundreds of crores the government spends just to administer the quota. Then add to it the precious seats that go unfulfilled in IITs each year because they can't find enough Dalits. Yeah, the fixed cost thing. Then imagine the lost productivity by releasing the sub-par (*) output on to the unsuspecting market.
The current fiasco is specifically about adding OBC reservation to premier institutes (well, the private sector thing is there too, but before that comes, someone will pull a Rang De Basanti on Arjun Singh I am sure). In other words about 2000 seats per year. By the dubious stats generated by the government, there are at least 500 million OBCs in the country. So, how many years do you think will it take? Yeah, about 250,000 years. So much for the quota math!
A better strategy would be just to confiscate all the wealth and property from all the upper-caste people and giving it away to Dalits and OBCs. Far more effective I think. It will have two effects, first the upper-caste people (and wealthy Dalits/OBCs too) will scram from the country faster than you can say "quota". Second, India will regress back into the hell-hole that it was before 1991, summarily.
Reservation is just government sanctioned bank robbery. Anyway you cut it.
(*) Well, don't say this in front of a communist. They will start screaming: merit is a farce.
Update: We are receiving anonymous tips on the communist bloggers at The Other India. We will be forced to expose the profiles of these bloggers, can't hold back public demand any longer. We hate to get personal, but you are asking for it dudes.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
No difference
Indian communists are surely learning from China. As usual they learn the bad things first.
Shhhhh! Don't say it aloud. The word merit gives severe heartache to communists. And with the medicos on strike, who will they go to for help?
Arjun Singh is frothing at his mouth
As we mentioned in a previous post, Sri Srjun Singh's official biodata lists his profession as Agriculturist/Farmer. He is a B.A., LL.B. Educated at Allahabad University and Agra University by the way.
Here are some quotes from a recent TOI article:
Singh dismissed as "propaganda" attempts to project the anti-reservation agitation as "Mandal II". "There is no Mandal II, III or IV. It is all propaganda to vitiate the whole atmosphere."
Well, Hon'ble minister Sir, it is all propaganda to derail your son's ascension to MP's throne.
I will always talk to protesting students.
If you can categorize mericiless lathicharge by state appointed and tax-payer paid thugs the police force as talk.
Slamming the National Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda, majority of whose members have rejected the quota proposal, Singh said "well, with all due respect to the great Knowledge Commission, I must point out to them that they are not above the Constitution.
Well, Sir, you are certainly acting as though you are.
If there is no understanding in society, no strategy works. The issue can be resolved through talks.
Dear Sir, talk is way over-rated as a tool for conflict resolution.
Singh said "we are a democracy and not a banana republic. You cannot hijack the process and browbeat me".
Thank you Sir, we needed a good laugh, no really.
Lathi is not the answer to anything.
Are you a freaking moron or are you just pretending to be one? Would there be a lathi-charge
if there was no directive from above? You ordered the lathi-charge, you freaking moron, you dirty asshole.
Through protest and one-sided actions, we cannot resolve the issue.
Er, Hon'ble minister Sir, if you lead one side against the other, each side will have exactly one side to direct its ire on, don't you think?
All in all we do think that his biodata was truthful after all. He has less brains than a peasant despite his law qualifications.
Meanwhile, the anti-merit gang has ignored the following news:
Brand IIT may have just got bigger. This year, for the first time, investment firms, which usually hire management graduates from Princeton, Wharton and MIT, were seen knocking on the doors of IIT Delhi to recruit engineering graduates for finance jobs.
Well, ask Annie what that means. She will probably parrot the communist mantra:
My point is that since merit itself is such a farce, why use merit as an argument to keep someone out?
Yeah, thanks for screwing brand India.
Here are some quotes from a recent TOI article:
Singh dismissed as "propaganda" attempts to project the anti-reservation agitation as "Mandal II". "There is no Mandal II, III or IV. It is all propaganda to vitiate the whole atmosphere."
Well, Hon'ble minister Sir, it is all propaganda to derail your son's ascension to MP's throne.
I will always talk to protesting students.
If you can categorize mericiless lathicharge by state appointed and tax-payer paid thugs the police force as talk.
Slamming the National Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda, majority of whose members have rejected the quota proposal, Singh said "well, with all due respect to the great Knowledge Commission, I must point out to them that they are not above the Constitution.
Well, Sir, you are certainly acting as though you are.
If there is no understanding in society, no strategy works. The issue can be resolved through talks.
Dear Sir, talk is way over-rated as a tool for conflict resolution.
Singh said "we are a democracy and not a banana republic. You cannot hijack the process and browbeat me".
Thank you Sir, we needed a good laugh, no really.
Lathi is not the answer to anything.
Are you a freaking moron or are you just pretending to be one? Would there be a lathi-charge
if there was no directive from above? You ordered the lathi-charge, you freaking moron, you dirty asshole.
Through protest and one-sided actions, we cannot resolve the issue.
Er, Hon'ble minister Sir, if you lead one side against the other, each side will have exactly one side to direct its ire on, don't you think?
All in all we do think that his biodata was truthful after all. He has less brains than a peasant despite his law qualifications.
Meanwhile, the anti-merit gang has ignored the following news:
Brand IIT may have just got bigger. This year, for the first time, investment firms, which usually hire management graduates from Princeton, Wharton and MIT, were seen knocking on the doors of IIT Delhi to recruit engineering graduates for finance jobs.
Well, ask Annie what that means. She will probably parrot the communist mantra:
My point is that since merit itself is such a farce, why use merit as an argument to keep someone out?
Yeah, thanks for screwing brand India.
Fun and games in New Delhi
Checkout this flickr photostream for more photos.I don't see any students here. These look like thugs to me, collected in a van by leftist parties. Only one woman can be seen, on the far right. She is fat, but that's besides the point.
A few days ago, I mentioned that Dalits were complaining why I was targeting them, Mandal II isn't even about them. Well, the reason is complex.
As you can see, if it is not about them, why would they go out and hold pro-reservation rallies in the first place? The answer partially lies in the way reservation is justified. In a few minutes of argument, the economic logic falls flat on its face. Then they start showing you horrifying pictures of hunger. However, you quickly point out that reservation to a privileged Dalit kid in New Delhi isn't even remotely likely to feed a hungry child in Chattisgarh. That created a significant problem and not easy to answer. To counter this, various Brahmin hate sites such as DalitVoice, Dalitstan, CounterCurrents etc. have sprung up.
Their logic is as follows:
1. About 3000 years ago, a Brahmin, heckled a Dalit.
2. The Dalit dude got traumatized
3. As a result, even privileged Dalits today suffer from some sort of a trauma and can not compete.
4. Therefore, they must be compensated.
Well, again, don't even ask. We are as flummoxed as you are.
The reason these people are holding rallies is because they have smelled blood. You see, the spectre of reservation in Private sector has not really gone away. See here. Reservation you see, is a one way street. It can never be reduced, it can never be repealed. The demands keep getting higher and higher. If you concede even an inch, you have in principle accepted the argument for reservation.
Who benefits from it? Well, a materials science professor in IISc is blogging till kingdom come as a pre-emptive measure. If they don't promote him, he will claim he has been victimized by his upper-caste departmental head. Shivam Vij enjoys his metro ride in New Delhi. Annie got a scholarship in Scotland. And check out this dude, he writes flaming articles for CounterCurrents.org, doing his PhD from Singapore (scroll down for pic). Topic of his PhD thesis? You guessed it!
So as you can see, reservation has created a cottage industry of freeloaders who exploit it to the hilt. Does it solve the hunger problem? Hell, no. I know some Dalits from college who can party like there is no tomorrow. Why would they care? Why should they? The idea that sending an IAS officer's kid to IIT will somehow feed Ram Dulari's kids is a pipe dream at best.
It is no wonder that the pro-reservation folks have joined hands with the communists. Both are nothing else but looter's creeds.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Communist Math
This is a follow up on our previous posts on communist propaganda and communist quotes.
Well, the spinning continues. T.A. Abinandanan of the nanopolitan blog recently posted a long, supposedly sarcastic article. The sarcasm fell flat given that it appears that he has internalized some of the writing styles from our blog. Anyway.
In this article he linked to his quota-math model. Yeah, it is in his other blog, he has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of personality disorder. Apparently the other blog is only for scientific and technical posts. It is evident that his disease has reached advanced stages.
Note: The article contained numerous typos as you would expect from a pot hazed maniac, and after repeated requests, some of them were corrected. For instance:
So, the communist math goes as follows. Student A-20 (a Brahmin) goes to college Q (IIT) while another student A-1 (say a Dalit) goes to college Z (say a state engineering college). For ease of understanding we will call the colleges IIT and SEC (State Engineering College) and call the students B and D. Then he proves that if the positions were switched, i.e. B went to SEC and D went to IIT, the net gain to society would be higher.
As you can see, the communists have proved that if you replace all the Brahmins in IITs with Dalits, the net gain to society will increase to the tune of $30,000 per switch.
So, what are the not so unreasonable and certainly plausible assumptions here? One of the biggest problems with this model is that Abinandanan is suggesting that only IITs can add social capital. If that is so, then do we have any point in reservations in other institutes? Perhaps this is not what he wanted to say. So, we modify the gains from IIT to B and D in the same ratio assumed for SEC. Hence, here is our modified and realistic picture:
In other words, by Abinandanan's own logic, we will destroy $75,000 in value if we replace all upper-caste IITians with Dalit/OBCs from other institutues.
Of course, without reservation the situation will be completely different. Few Dalits will go to any Engineering college, forget about IITs. It will look like this:
As you can see, no D. B1 goes to IIT and B2 goes to SEC. Reservation thus destroys value.
Reservation does not help Dalit/Adivasis or OBC/MBCs or anyone for that matter. As a matter of fact, reservation kills Dalits, millions of them. What Abinandanan does not want you to know is that the social capital he talks about fills the coffers of the likes of Arjun Singh and his soon to be CM of Madhya Pradesh son Ajay Singh. The quota system has created a very powerful layer of Dalit/OBCs who absorb all the state aid, not just the academic seats and jobs. If there was no reservations, perhaps some poor Dalits would be able to gain by working hard. Today, they have absolutely no incentive to do so, because no matter what they do, their bread will be snatched by kids of Kancha Ilaiah and Abinandanans of this world.
We estimate that by spreading his communist propaganda, T.A. Abinandanan has killed perhaps hundreds of thousands of Dalits.
Next up: Profiles of these communists.
Well, the spinning continues. T.A. Abinandanan of the nanopolitan blog recently posted a long, supposedly sarcastic article. The sarcasm fell flat given that it appears that he has internalized some of the writing styles from our blog. Anyway.
In this article he linked to his quota-math model. Yeah, it is in his other blog, he has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of personality disorder. Apparently the other blog is only for scientific and technical posts. It is evident that his disease has reached advanced stages.
Note: The article contained numerous typos as you would expect from a pot hazed maniac, and after repeated requests, some of them were corrected. For instance:
So, the communist math goes as follows. Student A-20 (a Brahmin) goes to college Q (IIT) while another student A-1 (say a Dalit) goes to college Z (say a state engineering college). For ease of understanding we will call the colleges IIT and SEC (State Engineering College) and call the students B and D. Then he proves that if the positions were switched, i.e. B went to SEC and D went to IIT, the net gain to society would be higher.
As you can see, the communists have proved that if you replace all the Brahmins in IITs with Dalits, the net gain to society will increase to the tune of $30,000 per switch.
So, what are the not so unreasonable and certainly plausible assumptions here? One of the biggest problems with this model is that Abinandanan is suggesting that only IITs can add social capital. If that is so, then do we have any point in reservations in other institutes? Perhaps this is not what he wanted to say. So, we modify the gains from IIT to B and D in the same ratio assumed for SEC. Hence, here is our modified and realistic picture:
In other words, by Abinandanan's own logic, we will destroy $75,000 in value if we replace all upper-caste IITians with Dalit/OBCs from other institutues.
Of course, without reservation the situation will be completely different. Few Dalits will go to any Engineering college, forget about IITs. It will look like this:
As you can see, no D. B1 goes to IIT and B2 goes to SEC. Reservation thus destroys value.
Reservation does not help Dalit/Adivasis or OBC/MBCs or anyone for that matter. As a matter of fact, reservation kills Dalits, millions of them. What Abinandanan does not want you to know is that the social capital he talks about fills the coffers of the likes of Arjun Singh and his soon to be CM of Madhya Pradesh son Ajay Singh. The quota system has created a very powerful layer of Dalit/OBCs who absorb all the state aid, not just the academic seats and jobs. If there was no reservations, perhaps some poor Dalits would be able to gain by working hard. Today, they have absolutely no incentive to do so, because no matter what they do, their bread will be snatched by kids of Kancha Ilaiah and Abinandanans of this world.
We estimate that by spreading his communist propaganda, T.A. Abinandanan has killed perhaps hundreds of thousands of Dalits.
Next up: Profiles of these communists.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Amphetamine Annie
Wanna tell you all a story, about this chick I met.
They call her Amphetamine Annie, and she's always shovelin' shit.
There was a lone visitor from Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom to our blog. Is that you Annie? So, how do you like Scotland? Well, we sincerely hope that you didn't show your article to these people.
You see Annie, it is fairly obvious from reading your tripe that your sentence construction skills are worse than an average sixth grader's. The complete disregard for basic rules of grammar and spelling, mixing up of metaphors and in general the brutal violation that you subjected Queen's English to is a rarity by itself, much more so coming from a self-styled scribe.
The problem is not just the puritanical rules, which quite obviously you don't have to follow. Some old-timers may disagree but you can always play the "communication skill" card, which in today's parlance does not require strict adherence to rules of grammar, and what are rules anyway (just like what is merit anyway)?
Annie dearest, your article and your blog conjures up vivid images in our minds. Oily hair, scrawny legs in a dirty frock walking along the broken pavements in a third-rate city towards her third-rate college, clutching her registers close to her yet to blossom chest, hoping that this time, just this time she and her clique of literature loving girls might scrape through with a third- class.
Of course you get by, eventually, by figuring out how to game the system. In the process though, education completely eludes you. Simple concepts like money and definition of sociology escapes your tiny brain, but that doesn't prevent you from debating big, really big issues. You come up with pithy sentences like this quite nonchalantly, without understanding the apparent contradiction:
My point is that since merit itself is such a farce, why use merit as an argument to keep someone out?
You see Annie, whether the Dalits will ever get rich or take away women from the Brahmins is not really a classic catch-22 situation . As a matter of fact that is more commonly known as a zero-sum game (*). At this point we can clearly imagine you flailing your arms about, trying to disprove the concept of merit on the basis of the merit of your argument. And when it comes from someone who barely passed her exams by phatte marofying or reading guide books, it is quite funny.
Note (1): We know that your uncle Abi is examining our posts with his microscope. Well, tell him that unlike you, we didn't major in humanities. In fact, we are not even humans, we are barbarians.
Note (2): Beware of uncle Abi when he talks sweet or tries to touch you at inappropriate places. The track record of old communist dudes in this regard is quite notorious.
(*) In communist world-view Dalits can never get rich except at the expense of the Brahmins. Don't ask us dude!
They call her Amphetamine Annie, and she's always shovelin' shit.
There was a lone visitor from Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom to our blog. Is that you Annie? So, how do you like Scotland? Well, we sincerely hope that you didn't show your article to these people.
You see Annie, it is fairly obvious from reading your tripe that your sentence construction skills are worse than an average sixth grader's. The complete disregard for basic rules of grammar and spelling, mixing up of metaphors and in general the brutal violation that you subjected Queen's English to is a rarity by itself, much more so coming from a self-styled scribe.
The problem is not just the puritanical rules, which quite obviously you don't have to follow. Some old-timers may disagree but you can always play the "communication skill" card, which in today's parlance does not require strict adherence to rules of grammar, and what are rules anyway (just like what is merit anyway)?
Annie dearest, your article and your blog conjures up vivid images in our minds. Oily hair, scrawny legs in a dirty frock walking along the broken pavements in a third-rate city towards her third-rate college, clutching her registers close to her yet to blossom chest, hoping that this time, just this time she and her clique of literature loving girls might scrape through with a third- class.
Of course you get by, eventually, by figuring out how to game the system. In the process though, education completely eludes you. Simple concepts like money and definition of sociology escapes your tiny brain, but that doesn't prevent you from debating big, really big issues. You come up with pithy sentences like this quite nonchalantly, without understanding the apparent contradiction:
My point is that since merit itself is such a farce, why use merit as an argument to keep someone out?
You see Annie, whether the Dalits will ever get rich or take away women from the Brahmins is not really a classic catch-22 situation . As a matter of fact that is more commonly known as a zero-sum game (*). At this point we can clearly imagine you flailing your arms about, trying to disprove the concept of merit on the basis of the merit of your argument. And when it comes from someone who barely passed her exams by phatte marofying or reading guide books, it is quite funny.
Note (1): We know that your uncle Abi is examining our posts with his microscope. Well, tell him that unlike you, we didn't major in humanities. In fact, we are not even humans, we are barbarians.
Note (2): Beware of uncle Abi when he talks sweet or tries to touch you at inappropriate places. The track record of old communist dudes in this regard is quite notorious.
(*) In communist world-view Dalits can never get rich except at the expense of the Brahmins. Don't ask us dude!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Ominous Signs
To the casual reader, The Other India blog might come across as just another blog where a few idealists converse about the plight of the poor etc. Unfortunately, there is a far more sinister agenda on their minds.
Careful analysis reveals that they employ all the communist trademark tools and techniques on a regular basis.
Communist Tool #1: Propaganda:
As you can see, this innocuous table of contents shows concerns about an assortment of issues. Concern about women and children? Check. Power and Water? Check. Worrying about underpaid drivers? Check. It gets better. There is hunger, poverty, truth - the words typically used in communist indoctrination. This is how the brainwashing begins. If you don't believe them, you are causing hunger. You are not progressive.
Then comes the punchline. Reservations. Notice the phrase cost-benefit analysis. This is a tool for tackling advanced level scepticism. If you reject their ideas, a third-class economics major will explain to you how Marx will make everything better, for everyone. Cost/benefit trade-off, can't beat that!
Sensational, isn't it? Well, thats exactly how propaganda works. It is a very subtle form of subliminal programming really. They don't want you to think, they will do your thinking for you. That's how it always works in the communist regimes.
For propaganda to work. it is very important for them to build a network. They are scattered all over the globe. Just like terrorist cells all over the world, these people gather in their dens and hatch a plan of world domination.
Propaganda needs the illusion of a large number of believers. The bloggers at The Other India run as many as a couple of dozen different websites. I covered how this thing works in a previous post.
All these websites parrot the party ideology, as I covered here.
Communist Tool #2: Censorship:
Communists are notorious for stifling the voice of the opposition and The Other India folks are no exception.
If you post a comment in their blog opposing their views, chances are it will never see daylight.
As you can see, my comments languish forever in "awaiting moderation" phase.
As of today, they were removed. I got censored, a primitive but potent tool of commuism threw my lone voice out into oblivion, where no one can hear it.
Communist Tool #3: Attack on individualism:
Communists hate the word merit. If you mention this word in front of a communist, he will start squirming like a toad. As you can see in this post of mine, they are spamming the web regularly with their anti-merit comment. If you search the various websites run by these folks, you will see a regular attack on merit and its validity. For instance, see here and here and here and here and of course the mother of them all - here, which we analyzed a little bit in the previous post.
In the communist world-view, everyone deserves to get the same from the world. Yes, a nuclear physicist should get paid exactly the same as a driver in New Delhi, not a paise more, not a paise less. What about relative ability you ask? Well, that's exactly the point. The communists believe that there is nothing absolute about the world. There is no sacrosanct measure for ability. In their world, no individual has the moral right to outperform another. That is why they launch such vicious attacks on merit and any attempt to measure it That is why they spin such a web of lies and falsehoods aimed at any attempt to reward merit.
If you are a little scared right now, well you should be. Check this out and see what they might do to you.
Notes:
Abi dude, if you are reading this, are you chanting the mantra I gave you? Remember, when you support the communists God kills a thousand Dalits?
Krish dude, you are welcome. By the way, your site is sending a lot of traffic my way. I have a suggestion for you, I noticed your knowledge of current affairs is quite lacking despite the fact that your blogging mainly consists of creating thousands of posts by copy-pasting news articles. You might want to read this.
Annie, we have not forgotten you. You are up next, we have some suggestions for you.
Readers, thanks for your support. We will not let you down.
Careful analysis reveals that they employ all the communist trademark tools and techniques on a regular basis.
Communist Tool #1: Propaganda:
As you can see, this innocuous table of contents shows concerns about an assortment of issues. Concern about women and children? Check. Power and Water? Check. Worrying about underpaid drivers? Check. It gets better. There is hunger, poverty, truth - the words typically used in communist indoctrination. This is how the brainwashing begins. If you don't believe them, you are causing hunger. You are not progressive.
Then comes the punchline. Reservations. Notice the phrase cost-benefit analysis. This is a tool for tackling advanced level scepticism. If you reject their ideas, a third-class economics major will explain to you how Marx will make everything better, for everyone. Cost/benefit trade-off, can't beat that!
Sensational, isn't it? Well, thats exactly how propaganda works. It is a very subtle form of subliminal programming really. They don't want you to think, they will do your thinking for you. That's how it always works in the communist regimes.For propaganda to work. it is very important for them to build a network. They are scattered all over the globe. Just like terrorist cells all over the world, these people gather in their dens and hatch a plan of world domination.
Propaganda needs the illusion of a large number of believers. The bloggers at The Other India run as many as a couple of dozen different websites. I covered how this thing works in a previous post.
All these websites parrot the party ideology, as I covered here.
Communist Tool #2: Censorship:
Communists are notorious for stifling the voice of the opposition and The Other India folks are no exception.If you post a comment in their blog opposing their views, chances are it will never see daylight.
As you can see, my comments languish forever in "awaiting moderation" phase.
As of today, they were removed. I got censored, a primitive but potent tool of commuism threw my lone voice out into oblivion, where no one can hear it.
Communist Tool #3: Attack on individualism:
Communists hate the word merit. If you mention this word in front of a communist, he will start squirming like a toad. As you can see in this post of mine, they are spamming the web regularly with their anti-merit comment. If you search the various websites run by these folks, you will see a regular attack on merit and its validity. For instance, see here and here and here and here and of course the mother of them all - here, which we analyzed a little bit in the previous post.
In the communist world-view, everyone deserves to get the same from the world. Yes, a nuclear physicist should get paid exactly the same as a driver in New Delhi, not a paise more, not a paise less. What about relative ability you ask? Well, that's exactly the point. The communists believe that there is nothing absolute about the world. There is no sacrosanct measure for ability. In their world, no individual has the moral right to outperform another. That is why they launch such vicious attacks on merit and any attempt to measure it That is why they spin such a web of lies and falsehoods aimed at any attempt to reward merit.
If you are a little scared right now, well you should be. Check this out and see what they might do to you.
Notes:
Abi dude, if you are reading this, are you chanting the mantra I gave you? Remember, when you support the communists God kills a thousand Dalits?
Krish dude, you are welcome. By the way, your site is sending a lot of traffic my way. I have a suggestion for you, I noticed your knowledge of current affairs is quite lacking despite the fact that your blogging mainly consists of creating thousands of posts by copy-pasting news articles. You might want to read this.
Annie, we have not forgotten you. You are up next, we have some suggestions for you.
Readers, thanks for your support. We will not let you down.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The Truth About Annie
Or how Annie gives us those ones
Ta daa! Little Annie of The Other India blog has written a column, The Truth About Merit. Incidentally it has been categorized as general. Anyway.
She starts off with a Hindi poem:
"Gai hamari mata hai; humko kuch nahin aata hai".
Granted that I am a product of a faulty system that lets mistakes like me happen, but your poem does not make much sense in the context of what you are trying to insinuate. In the poem, the system ultimately catches the error and corrects it with a delicious dose of irony. So, don't you think that this example actually contradicts what you are trying to say?
Oh Wait, I read you wrong.
We all laugh, and we all know that this is a rare case of a careful teacher with a sense of humour. Most students know that their answer-scripts aren't even read by the teachers, (???) for the boards or university externals. You could write of cows and bulls and get away with it.
Guess you are trying that "exception proves the rule" track here. The problem is, that idea is totally overused, no one takes it seriously anymore. In fact, it is a very dangerous example to use. You see, I just had an argument with T.A. Abinandanan (I guess he is a sort of a father figure to you unless you two are the same person) about whether I think all Dalits are dumbos. I believe his website has some examples of bright Dalits, just like many of your sister sites run by the D'Souzas etc. has. You see what I am getting at here?
I am astounded by the fact that some of the most intelligent people in blogosphere can continue to argue on the basis of 'merit' when they probably know how completely non-relevant it is, given that our means and methods of judging merit are ... stupid. That is the only word that comes to mind.
Incidentally, that's the same word that comes to our mind. Well, Annie, there are many other words too, irrelevant for instance, that would strengthen your argument a little better.
I am not an IIT student, and will not pretend to know much about the CAT since I didn't crack it, but it is rather interesting that almost none of our wonderful IIT-ians (for whom such pitted battled are being fought) have made any earth-shattering discoveries or inventions.
If I were you Annie, I would probably think twice before venturing into an unknown turf. You got it right though, many of the IITians and IIM grads I know started smoking crack when news of Mandal II came out. Let me ask you this, if IITians are mediocre and a mistake of a faulty system, why do you recommend the poor Dalits go there anyway? Why not the best for them?
I'd like to focus on the humanities, because it is more personal.
We'd like that too, get to know your personal side a little more intimately, that is. By the way, good strategy of exiting dangerous territory after slipping in an example from the Dalit Mouthpiece The Outlook on the sly.
I was used to being a high scorer in English Literature, all through my schooling. Before my secondary board exams, I had already finished reading the syllabus meant for the senior secondary students.
You mean you got used to being a high scorer or you used to be a high scorer? Either way, we know what you mean. Just a question, did you just read the syllabus or all the assigned readings per the syllabus? That would make a whole world of difference.
This was a time when I was seeking to reinterpret poetry, lookng for challenge and allowing my mind to open up to new explanations. I was told that re-interpretation is all very well, but if one didn't read the 'guide books' and didn't toe the accepted literary line..
Do you proof-read all by yourself or does Abinandanan uncle help you? Do you proof-read at all? You understand that this is a serious debate, do you? You do know that the barbarians will go through your post with a fine-toothed comb, right?
Many girls, who could not string a grammaticaly correct sentence together, were way, way ahead. It was a bit of a joke - our little 'clique' of girls who really enjoyed literature were the ones floundering when it came to marksheets.
I hear you Annie. While I do believe you, did it ever occur to you girls who really really liked literature that the problem could be elsewhere? The only explanation I have is that perhaps it would help if you could spell better.
In the third year, I threw in the towel ..
Now we are talking! Go, Annie Go!
We all know of economics students who don't know the theories, but if you can get the graph or diagram correct, you still get marked correctly. We all know a few mad students who know the whole book, word to word. I am not exaggerating. Word to damning word.
Just curious, isn't that blasphemous in your faith? Well, never mind. I thought you also did the same, by memorizing your literature books word for word. Not the same huh! Well, never mind again. Also, how would you know that they didn't know the theories, given that:
I'd got a third division in economics, second year - because I completely failed to understand the subject.
Today, I have forgotten the definition of 'money'. Two registers full of sociology notes dictated by the lecturer (she didn't teach; she only dictated notes) and I knew them, word to word. I knew five different definitions of sociology. Today, I don't know even one.
So, the meaning of sociology didn't register in your mind because of the teaching style. We understand, we have all been there. But what alarms me is that someone who does not know what sociology is, what is she doing on a self-styled socially conscientious site?
Why do you think I was trying so hard for a first division?
Frankly my dear, at this point we don't give a damn.
If you cannot take first-class education and opportunity to the backward class/caste, then you must (???) the backwards to the first-class opportunity.
In a sense we do agree. It would be quite inefficient to move the universities to the Dalits, lots of concrete etc.
Especially the subsidized or grant-aided colleges and universities - they have absolutely no business being restricted to those who use the 'merit' word to lay claim to an overflowing fount of potential.
Little quiz for you, Little Annie (since you have forgotten all about money).
Q. What is subsidy?
A. Flow of money (sheer waste in our opinion) from the Government towards freeloaders.
Q. How does the Government make money?
A. Taxes. Correct!!
Q. Who pays the taxes?
A. ????
You see Annie, the idea that the Government can do whatever it pleases with my money (or my father's really, I do not pay taxes there any more), does not really fly. It is my goddamn money. I don't want you to loot my money. Do you understand, you moron?
Note to The Other India folks: I really recommend that you strangle this woman. This is for the good of the Pan Dalit movement and all that. This woman is unbelievable, retarded in our honest view. She gives the Dalit community a bad name. I understand that you want to have some women posters in the name of diversity and all that, but please, not this nincompoop.
Ta daa! Little Annie of The Other India blog has written a column, The Truth About Merit. Incidentally it has been categorized as general. Anyway.
She starts off with a Hindi poem:
"Gai hamari mata hai; humko kuch nahin aata hai".
Granted that I am a product of a faulty system that lets mistakes like me happen, but your poem does not make much sense in the context of what you are trying to insinuate. In the poem, the system ultimately catches the error and corrects it with a delicious dose of irony. So, don't you think that this example actually contradicts what you are trying to say?
Oh Wait, I read you wrong.
We all laugh, and we all know that this is a rare case of a careful teacher with a sense of humour. Most students know that their answer-scripts aren't even read by the teachers, (???) for the boards or university externals. You could write of cows and bulls and get away with it.
Guess you are trying that "exception proves the rule" track here. The problem is, that idea is totally overused, no one takes it seriously anymore. In fact, it is a very dangerous example to use. You see, I just had an argument with T.A. Abinandanan (I guess he is a sort of a father figure to you unless you two are the same person) about whether I think all Dalits are dumbos. I believe his website has some examples of bright Dalits, just like many of your sister sites run by the D'Souzas etc. has. You see what I am getting at here?
I am astounded by the fact that some of the most intelligent people in blogosphere can continue to argue on the basis of 'merit' when they probably know how completely non-relevant it is, given that our means and methods of judging merit are ... stupid. That is the only word that comes to mind.
Incidentally, that's the same word that comes to our mind. Well, Annie, there are many other words too, irrelevant for instance, that would strengthen your argument a little better.
I am not an IIT student, and will not pretend to know much about the CAT since I didn't crack it, but it is rather interesting that almost none of our wonderful IIT-ians (for whom such pitted battled are being fought) have made any earth-shattering discoveries or inventions.
If I were you Annie, I would probably think twice before venturing into an unknown turf. You got it right though, many of the IITians and IIM grads I know started smoking crack when news of Mandal II came out. Let me ask you this, if IITians are mediocre and a mistake of a faulty system, why do you recommend the poor Dalits go there anyway? Why not the best for them?
I'd like to focus on the humanities, because it is more personal.
We'd like that too, get to know your personal side a little more intimately, that is. By the way, good strategy of exiting dangerous territory after slipping in an example from the Dalit Mouthpiece The Outlook on the sly.
I was used to being a high scorer in English Literature, all through my schooling. Before my secondary board exams, I had already finished reading the syllabus meant for the senior secondary students.
You mean you got used to being a high scorer or you used to be a high scorer? Either way, we know what you mean. Just a question, did you just read the syllabus or all the assigned readings per the syllabus? That would make a whole world of difference.
This was a time when I was seeking to reinterpret poetry, lookng for challenge and allowing my mind to open up to new explanations. I was told that re-interpretation is all very well, but if one didn't read the 'guide books' and didn't toe the accepted literary line..
Do you proof-read all by yourself or does Abinandanan uncle help you? Do you proof-read at all? You understand that this is a serious debate, do you? You do know that the barbarians will go through your post with a fine-toothed comb, right?
Many girls, who could not string a grammaticaly correct sentence together, were way, way ahead. It was a bit of a joke - our little 'clique' of girls who really enjoyed literature were the ones floundering when it came to marksheets.
I hear you Annie. While I do believe you, did it ever occur to you girls who really really liked literature that the problem could be elsewhere? The only explanation I have is that perhaps it would help if you could spell better.
In the third year, I threw in the towel ..
Now we are talking! Go, Annie Go!
We all know of economics students who don't know the theories, but if you can get the graph or diagram correct, you still get marked correctly. We all know a few mad students who know the whole book, word to word. I am not exaggerating. Word to damning word.
Just curious, isn't that blasphemous in your faith? Well, never mind. I thought you also did the same, by memorizing your literature books word for word. Not the same huh! Well, never mind again. Also, how would you know that they didn't know the theories, given that:
I'd got a third division in economics, second year - because I completely failed to understand the subject.
Today, I have forgotten the definition of 'money'. Two registers full of sociology notes dictated by the lecturer (she didn't teach; she only dictated notes) and I knew them, word to word. I knew five different definitions of sociology. Today, I don't know even one.
So, the meaning of sociology didn't register in your mind because of the teaching style. We understand, we have all been there. But what alarms me is that someone who does not know what sociology is, what is she doing on a self-styled socially conscientious site?
Why do you think I was trying so hard for a first division?
Frankly my dear, at this point we don't give a damn.
If you cannot take first-class education and opportunity to the backward class/caste, then you must (???) the backwards to the first-class opportunity.
In a sense we do agree. It would be quite inefficient to move the universities to the Dalits, lots of concrete etc.
Especially the subsidized or grant-aided colleges and universities - they have absolutely no business being restricted to those who use the 'merit' word to lay claim to an overflowing fount of potential.
Little quiz for you, Little Annie (since you have forgotten all about money).
Q. What is subsidy?
A. Flow of money (sheer waste in our opinion) from the Government towards freeloaders.
Q. How does the Government make money?
A. Taxes. Correct!!
Q. Who pays the taxes?
A. ????
You see Annie, the idea that the Government can do whatever it pleases with my money (or my father's really, I do not pay taxes there any more), does not really fly. It is my goddamn money. I don't want you to loot my money. Do you understand, you moron?
Note to The Other India folks: I really recommend that you strangle this woman. This is for the good of the Pan Dalit movement and all that. This woman is unbelievable, retarded in our honest view. She gives the Dalit community a bad name. I understand that you want to have some women posters in the name of diversity and all that, but please, not this nincompoop.
The self-stoking continues
The bloggers at The Other India keep quoting each other and individual blogs they maintain. Notably T.A. Abinandanan (nanopolitian, whatever that means, perhaps a gayish cross-reference of nano-tech and metropolitan), Dilip D'Souza (dcubed - death ends fun, no kidding), Shivam Vij (National Highway) and perhaps many others. May be they are all just one person, who knows. They all sound the same anyway.
Look here and here and here and here.
Dudes, don't make it so obvious by quoting each other as experts, the credibility goes out the door. Also, please don't quote your own post from another site. It amounts to this.
I wonder which is more atrocious (or stupid depending on the perspective), this or recommending your own post. I guess I will let this blogger be the judge of that.
Aside: A few Dalits have asked me why are you picking on us dude? This Mandal II thingy isn't even about us. This will be soon addressed.
Note, apparently India's best columnist has been spinning a web of vicious lies.
Despite being victims of social segregation, and economic deprivation, and as the newest entrant in the world of learning, Dalit/Adivasis never demanded bringing down pass marks to, say, 20 per cent?
Look here.
Look here and here and here and here.
Dudes, don't make it so obvious by quoting each other as experts, the credibility goes out the door. Also, please don't quote your own post from another site. It amounts to this.
I wonder which is more atrocious (or stupid depending on the perspective), this or recommending your own post. I guess I will let this blogger be the judge of that.
Aside: A few Dalits have asked me why are you picking on us dude? This Mandal II thingy isn't even about us. This will be soon addressed.
Note, apparently India's best columnist has been spinning a web of vicious lies.
Despite being victims of social segregation, and economic deprivation, and as the newest entrant in the world of learning, Dalit/Adivasis never demanded bringing down pass marks to, say, 20 per cent?
Look here.
Communist Quotes
(Note: This keeps getting better and better. Oh my God, this is too much of entertainment. Readers, please check back often. Updated: Wed, May 17th)
"These exams should be fair to people who get in (make sure right kind of people get in) and you covered it well. But they should also be fair to people left out. And thats where these exams fail miserably. " (link)
If you fall off your chair while reading the above, wait till you read this one:
no one can be entirely wrong, nor can one be completely right. please dont take an absolute stance on anything.. it doesnt work that way in TN ...
and,
Most OBCs apply in OBC quota, unless they are harbor malicious intentions towards the "upper classes".. All this is paranoia even if hypothetical. (link)
A "passionately written" post indeed!
Such wisdom seems to be scattered all over the web, just waiting to be discovered:
So, the consideration of who constitutes a "meritorious candidate" must be mindful of numerous socio-economic factors. (link)
When we say Mandal is an insult to the primacy of merit, we pretend that merit has always been a primary concern. (link)
I wish people would take me seriously, no honestly, I mean I know they don't but I just wish. Perhaps I am wrong, let's just wish I am.
I wish we lived in a world where there was no need for reservations. But of course, I know we don't live in such a world, nor do I think we will get to such a world any time soon. (I honestly wish, too, that I am wrong there). (link)
Exam results are bad, motivation is good. Oh, wait, then if someone is motivated to do well in an exam, is that good or bad? How about someone who is motivated but the results aren't that great? I must be missing something here. Must read up Marx again.
It taught me that the best indicator of performance is not an exam result, but that motivation. (link)
What? People won't give up an incentive unless they are offered another? Hmmm. What a bummer!
Why would people taking advantage of reservations give it up after some length of time? Without an incentive to do so, they won't. (link)
I am not smart, I know that, so stop telling me. I am just doing this because you smart guys will not come up with a solution.
I believe that if these smart people want to, they can find creative answers to the problem that reservations claims to solve. (And to any number of other Indian problems). (link)
Those who think Mandal was only about caste or economic factors are fools. There are many other factors. Well, let me think. Merit is one I think, may be motivation too. Stop confusing me, alright? Didn't I say I am not as smart as you people?
I think Mandal had it right -- you have to look at more than just economic factors, more than just caste. (link)
I don't know about China, as a matter of fact I don't know much of anything. If I did it wouldn't help much because I just did a 'shroom. Well, they must be doing something different and I don't know what that is. But I know it must be good.
I don't know about China, but Japan and South Korea (and perhaps other Asian countries, too?) seem to have the entrance-exam culture that makes their students learn complex, advanced topics before they enter college. (link)
You see, reservation is like Viagra. It just helps you gain entry. After that you are on your own.
By definition, reservation provides an advantage to a favoured group only at the entry point. (link)
I can get it up, just about, with the help of Viagra. But it lasts a very short time.
I cannot understand in what way does society need a merit that is almost exclusively based on students being able to answer (easy or difficult) questions in a very short time. (link)
Yeah, it tastes red, smells loud and feels stinky-poo.
Thus, affirmative action is just reservation by another name, and sounds as sweet. (link)
(Gosh, this keeps getting better)
I never understood economics and I never will. I still sleep with my copy of Marx under my pillow.
I'd got a third division in economics, second year - because I completely failed to understand the subject. (link)
Applaud!! Here Annie really gives it those ones!
It is a catch-22 situation. But since some of us have benefitted from this catch-22, let others benefit as well. (link)
The ability to find directions is superior to the ability to quote from men and women of litreture (sic).
Is merit the ability to quote the great men and women of litreture (sic) , art and politics even when one has to ask something as simple as the directions to the next street? (link)
(Note: the above post was linked as a supposedly expert comment by Abinandanan, here).
Look at me, I am twisting and turning, trying to find a way to violate my own purity.
I wouldnt consider myself a puritan supporter of reservation in its currently absolute form. (link)
I had my life's greatest duh! moment today.
Those of us who are opposing the reservations are doing so because it harms our interests! (link)
Oh those damn myths!
The merit is absolutly a myth. (link)
I see a hint of vested interest here. My vest has a picture of Mao on it.
Upper castes are no doubt meritocratic (which is why sons inherit fathers' businesses), and they are no doubt oblivious to caste (just see the matrimonial pages), but there is the hint of vested interest here. (link)
I don't like it tough, as long as I get free seats. My children and grand-children too, yippiee!
And if you are opposing reservations because admissions will become tougher for you, you won't get the point of affirmative action anyway. (link)
Who says a nutcase can not coiexist with a nut? That's absurd.
Quota doesn't mean that an absolute nutcase is going to sit in an engineering class. It means that a student with 65% marks could be studying in a class with a student who got 95%. To say that the two can't co-exist is absurd. (link)
We need to chase the right mirage. Damn!
We seem to be instead running away from ourselves, chasing the wrong mirage. (link)
I am obsessed with nuts. Communism, capitalism, private, public .... just give us reservations dude!
Tough nut, no? Even tougher: how come so-called 'Communist' are turning capitalist in West Bengal, ushering in reform and welcoming private industry? (link)
Wasn't the economy already formed?
Why are we 'reforming' the economy? (link)
(Note: classic communist quote below, almost straight from Marx)
Why have some benefited more than others? (link)
(Note: we believe the friend said "dumb")
You are numbed, said my friend. (link)
What if someone erroneously calls me meritorious? Is that a single insult or double?
Terms like "merit" are insulting - and erroneous. (link)
Reservations was someone else's idea, but I still like it, it works for me.
Ask Bajaj, or Nilekani or Mittal. It doesn't matter what you get noticed for: producing slipshod copies of someone else's idea, or doing the nuts-and-bolts work on someone else's design, or riding to success on someone else's backbone. (link)
Not feeling charitable? How about a bank robbery?
My answer: firstly, reservations do not imply charity. (link)
Job? What is that? I am a full time moocher.
It won't be the first time I’m sitting at home, jobless. And it certainly won't be end of the world. (link)
What? Complexity? Looting should be easy.
Having said that, I don't see it being acceptable to a large number of people, simply because it adds some complexity to the program. (link)
You don't know what you want. We know what you should want.
Many people who claim they oppose reservation are not really opposed to reservation per se.. (link)
What is merit, really? What is looting, really? I don't know, really. I mean it, really.
So what is plagiarism and dishonesty, really? What does it mean, really? (link)
(God forbid)
Let us assume that I did have hiring-firing rights. (link)
Yeah, free seats for me, I don't care dude.
So what's the correct answer? I couldn't care less. (link)
I have my little black book, how dare you challenge it?
We don't seem to value democracy anymore; we don't realise that it is a book called the Constitution of India that guards our freedom, for all its faults. (link)
(The rot shows up, occasionally)
I do feel bad about the Congress losing Kerala because the outgoing Chief Ministers son is a friend :) (link)
I only read articles written by friends. As a matter of fact, if someone writes an article debunking what I want to believe, he is not a friend at all.
My close friend and classmate Sudarsan, a faculty in Philosophy, has written an interesting article... (link)
I am gonna call a couple hard pipe hitting bloggers to go to work on these commies here with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.
To be continued.....
"These exams should be fair to people who get in (make sure right kind of people get in) and you covered it well. But they should also be fair to people left out. And thats where these exams fail miserably. " (link)
If you fall off your chair while reading the above, wait till you read this one:
no one can be entirely wrong, nor can one be completely right. please dont take an absolute stance on anything.. it doesnt work that way in TN ...
and,
Most OBCs apply in OBC quota, unless they are harbor malicious intentions towards the "upper classes".. All this is paranoia even if hypothetical. (link)
A "passionately written" post indeed!
Such wisdom seems to be scattered all over the web, just waiting to be discovered:
So, the consideration of who constitutes a "meritorious candidate" must be mindful of numerous socio-economic factors. (link)
When we say Mandal is an insult to the primacy of merit, we pretend that merit has always been a primary concern. (link)
I wish people would take me seriously, no honestly, I mean I know they don't but I just wish. Perhaps I am wrong, let's just wish I am.
I wish we lived in a world where there was no need for reservations. But of course, I know we don't live in such a world, nor do I think we will get to such a world any time soon. (I honestly wish, too, that I am wrong there). (link)
Exam results are bad, motivation is good. Oh, wait, then if someone is motivated to do well in an exam, is that good or bad? How about someone who is motivated but the results aren't that great? I must be missing something here. Must read up Marx again.
It taught me that the best indicator of performance is not an exam result, but that motivation. (link)
What? People won't give up an incentive unless they are offered another? Hmmm. What a bummer!
Why would people taking advantage of reservations give it up after some length of time? Without an incentive to do so, they won't. (link)
I am not smart, I know that, so stop telling me. I am just doing this because you smart guys will not come up with a solution.
I believe that if these smart people want to, they can find creative answers to the problem that reservations claims to solve. (And to any number of other Indian problems). (link)
Those who think Mandal was only about caste or economic factors are fools. There are many other factors. Well, let me think. Merit is one I think, may be motivation too. Stop confusing me, alright? Didn't I say I am not as smart as you people?
I think Mandal had it right -- you have to look at more than just economic factors, more than just caste. (link)
I don't know about China, as a matter of fact I don't know much of anything. If I did it wouldn't help much because I just did a 'shroom. Well, they must be doing something different and I don't know what that is. But I know it must be good.
I don't know about China, but Japan and South Korea (and perhaps other Asian countries, too?) seem to have the entrance-exam culture that makes their students learn complex, advanced topics before they enter college. (link)
You see, reservation is like Viagra. It just helps you gain entry. After that you are on your own.
By definition, reservation provides an advantage to a favoured group only at the entry point. (link)
I can get it up, just about, with the help of Viagra. But it lasts a very short time.
I cannot understand in what way does society need a merit that is almost exclusively based on students being able to answer (easy or difficult) questions in a very short time. (link)
Yeah, it tastes red, smells loud and feels stinky-poo.
Thus, affirmative action is just reservation by another name, and sounds as sweet. (link)
(Gosh, this keeps getting better)
I never understood economics and I never will. I still sleep with my copy of Marx under my pillow.
I'd got a third division in economics, second year - because I completely failed to understand the subject. (link)
Applaud!! Here Annie really gives it those ones!
It is a catch-22 situation. But since some of us have benefitted from this catch-22, let others benefit as well. (link)
The ability to find directions is superior to the ability to quote from men and women of litreture (sic).
Is merit the ability to quote the great men and women of litreture (sic) , art and politics even when one has to ask something as simple as the directions to the next street? (link)
(Note: the above post was linked as a supposedly expert comment by Abinandanan, here).
Look at me, I am twisting and turning, trying to find a way to violate my own purity.
I wouldnt consider myself a puritan supporter of reservation in its currently absolute form. (link)
I had my life's greatest duh! moment today.
Those of us who are opposing the reservations are doing so because it harms our interests! (link)
Oh those damn myths!
The merit is absolutly a myth. (link)
I see a hint of vested interest here. My vest has a picture of Mao on it.
Upper castes are no doubt meritocratic (which is why sons inherit fathers' businesses), and they are no doubt oblivious to caste (just see the matrimonial pages), but there is the hint of vested interest here. (link)
I don't like it tough, as long as I get free seats. My children and grand-children too, yippiee!
And if you are opposing reservations because admissions will become tougher for you, you won't get the point of affirmative action anyway. (link)
Who says a nutcase can not coiexist with a nut? That's absurd.
Quota doesn't mean that an absolute nutcase is going to sit in an engineering class. It means that a student with 65% marks could be studying in a class with a student who got 95%. To say that the two can't co-exist is absurd. (link)
We need to chase the right mirage. Damn!
We seem to be instead running away from ourselves, chasing the wrong mirage. (link)
I am obsessed with nuts. Communism, capitalism, private, public .... just give us reservations dude!
Tough nut, no? Even tougher: how come so-called 'Communist' are turning capitalist in West Bengal, ushering in reform and welcoming private industry? (link)
Wasn't the economy already formed?
Why are we 'reforming' the economy? (link)
(Note: classic communist quote below, almost straight from Marx)
Why have some benefited more than others? (link)
(Note: we believe the friend said "dumb")
You are numbed, said my friend. (link)
What if someone erroneously calls me meritorious? Is that a single insult or double?
Terms like "merit" are insulting - and erroneous. (link)
Reservations was someone else's idea, but I still like it, it works for me.
Ask Bajaj, or Nilekani or Mittal. It doesn't matter what you get noticed for: producing slipshod copies of someone else's idea, or doing the nuts-and-bolts work on someone else's design, or riding to success on someone else's backbone. (link)
Not feeling charitable? How about a bank robbery?
My answer: firstly, reservations do not imply charity. (link)
Job? What is that? I am a full time moocher.
It won't be the first time I’m sitting at home, jobless. And it certainly won't be end of the world. (link)
What? Complexity? Looting should be easy.
Having said that, I don't see it being acceptable to a large number of people, simply because it adds some complexity to the program. (link)
You don't know what you want. We know what you should want.
Many people who claim they oppose reservation are not really opposed to reservation per se.. (link)
What is merit, really? What is looting, really? I don't know, really. I mean it, really.
So what is plagiarism and dishonesty, really? What does it mean, really? (link)
(God forbid)
Let us assume that I did have hiring-firing rights. (link)
Yeah, free seats for me, I don't care dude.
So what's the correct answer? I couldn't care less. (link)
I have my little black book, how dare you challenge it?
We don't seem to value democracy anymore; we don't realise that it is a book called the Constitution of India that guards our freedom, for all its faults. (link)
(The rot shows up, occasionally)
I do feel bad about the Congress losing Kerala because the outgoing Chief Ministers son is a friend :) (link)
I only read articles written by friends. As a matter of fact, if someone writes an article debunking what I want to believe, he is not a friend at all.
My close friend and classmate Sudarsan, a faculty in Philosophy, has written an interesting article... (link)
I am gonna call a couple hard pipe hitting bloggers to go to work on these commies here with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.
To be continued.....
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Now that we have got your attention
The blogger T.A. Abinandanan of The Other India blog emailed us with some direct questions. Here is our official response (Note: this post will be regularly updated to address other questions).
Thank you for your comments on my blog (nanopolitan).
Likewise.
Perhaps I can find out why you are against reservation. Are you against the idea of reservation? Its goals? If so, why do you say affirmative action is okay?
As a starter, read my blog and the links provided. Perhaps it will help. We never said that Affirmative Action is okay. To use a cliche, a rose by any other name ...., except in this case it stinks.
Are you against reservation because of
-- the large percentage of seats/jobs that are reserved?
-- the way it's implemented is corrupt?
-- creamy layer exclusion is only cursory?
We are against reservation because it is immoral. As a side point, it does not work. There are 225 million Dalits in our country. On a yearly basis, reservation perhaps helps 50,000 Dalits in gaining academic seats. As explained in a previous post. many of these are counted twice, i.e. a Dalit from IIT will go to IIM as well. So presumably the number is far fewer. In essence these Dalits will corner the benefits for generations. Hence, a very ballpark figure, just about 0.02 percent Dalits have benefitted from reservations.
Somewhere you said 'reservation is immoral'. At the other end of the spectrum, I don't see anything moral in perpetuating a system that denies opportunities -- and a stake in the system -- to a lot of our disadvantaged people.
I say it in every post. Just look at my banner. The fact of the matter is nobody is perpetuating any "system" here. In case you are not aware, we have 22.5% reservation for Dalits since ever (actually the figure is far north of it and more sinister if you take into account abominations like automatic promotions etc.) Now that has really helped, hasn't it?
We are looking for ways to achieve a more equitable system, .....
Well, look no further. Here is one for you, tried and tested by empirical data as well as theoretically well supported.
.... and reservation is just one such tool for achieving the goal of social justice.
The justice being a Dalit IAS officers' kids swing by college campuses in their parent's government issue Jeep. The poor Dalit in some podunk does not even know there is such a thing as "reservation". Perhaps he boils in righteous anger because the local padre (*) tells him that he is being taken for a ride by Brahmins.
The very fact that one argues about these issues implies that this is a political issue, which can be resolved only through political means -- which implies a compromise of sorts.
Show me an issue which involves an assumption of a fixed pie that does not turn political. As a matter of fact the assumption of a fixed pie is a gargantuan (**) lie the communists dupe millions of people with.
There are no black-and-white positions that one can cling to once politics enters this picture. One can only hope for an optimal grey that most of us can live with.
I shudder to think of the optimal grey you will come up with. No thanks, I will live with my moral clarity.
In spite of these fairly obvious 'facts of life' if you still wish to stick to absolutist claims, interlaced with casteist remarks that imply all Dalits/OBCs are dumbos (undeserving, totally lacking in 'merit', etc), .....
As a matter of fact, you are the one who thinks all Dalit/OBCs are dumbos. Why else would you recommend reservation?
... there is little any of us can do to convince you otherwise.
Communists and capitalists have a poor record of co-habiting and that's an understatement. Like it or not, we are at war.
By the way, someone is "puking" at your blog, read here and here and here and here.
(*) No disrespect meant for any religion, as a matter of fact some of those really do commendable work (unfortunately charity makes good copy but only goes so far).
(**) I've always liked that word..."gargantuan"... so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence.
Epilogue: Remember, just like the proverbial when you do that God kills a kitten, everytime you support communists, God kills a thousand Dalits. Teach this as a mantra to your students, you can really make a big difference. Delete all contents from your pretentious website and start a campaign to let WalMart in. You will see what a big difference that will make. In fact, this will be even sweeter for you given that they will likely upset some upper-caste folks big time, like this dude (7th passage).
Note: This post also got puked on, see here.
Thank you for your comments on my blog (nanopolitan).
Likewise.
Perhaps I can find out why you are against reservation. Are you against the idea of reservation? Its goals? If so, why do you say affirmative action is okay?
As a starter, read my blog and the links provided. Perhaps it will help. We never said that Affirmative Action is okay. To use a cliche, a rose by any other name ...., except in this case it stinks.
Are you against reservation because of
-- the large percentage of seats/jobs that are reserved?
-- the way it's implemented is corrupt?
-- creamy layer exclusion is only cursory?
We are against reservation because it is immoral. As a side point, it does not work. There are 225 million Dalits in our country. On a yearly basis, reservation perhaps helps 50,000 Dalits in gaining academic seats. As explained in a previous post. many of these are counted twice, i.e. a Dalit from IIT will go to IIM as well. So presumably the number is far fewer. In essence these Dalits will corner the benefits for generations. Hence, a very ballpark figure, just about 0.02 percent Dalits have benefitted from reservations.
Somewhere you said 'reservation is immoral'. At the other end of the spectrum, I don't see anything moral in perpetuating a system that denies opportunities -- and a stake in the system -- to a lot of our disadvantaged people.
I say it in every post. Just look at my banner. The fact of the matter is nobody is perpetuating any "system" here. In case you are not aware, we have 22.5% reservation for Dalits since ever (actually the figure is far north of it and more sinister if you take into account abominations like automatic promotions etc.) Now that has really helped, hasn't it?
We are looking for ways to achieve a more equitable system, .....
Well, look no further. Here is one for you, tried and tested by empirical data as well as theoretically well supported.
.... and reservation is just one such tool for achieving the goal of social justice.
The justice being a Dalit IAS officers' kids swing by college campuses in their parent's government issue Jeep. The poor Dalit in some podunk does not even know there is such a thing as "reservation". Perhaps he boils in righteous anger because the local padre (*) tells him that he is being taken for a ride by Brahmins.
The very fact that one argues about these issues implies that this is a political issue, which can be resolved only through political means -- which implies a compromise of sorts.
Show me an issue which involves an assumption of a fixed pie that does not turn political. As a matter of fact the assumption of a fixed pie is a gargantuan (**) lie the communists dupe millions of people with.
There are no black-and-white positions that one can cling to once politics enters this picture. One can only hope for an optimal grey that most of us can live with.
I shudder to think of the optimal grey you will come up with. No thanks, I will live with my moral clarity.
In spite of these fairly obvious 'facts of life' if you still wish to stick to absolutist claims, interlaced with casteist remarks that imply all Dalits/OBCs are dumbos (undeserving, totally lacking in 'merit', etc), .....
As a matter of fact, you are the one who thinks all Dalit/OBCs are dumbos. Why else would you recommend reservation?
... there is little any of us can do to convince you otherwise.
Communists and capitalists have a poor record of co-habiting and that's an understatement. Like it or not, we are at war.
By the way, someone is "puking" at your blog, read here and here and here and here.
(*) No disrespect meant for any religion, as a matter of fact some of those really do commendable work (unfortunately charity makes good copy but only goes so far).
(**) I've always liked that word..."gargantuan"... so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence.
Epilogue: Remember, just like the proverbial when you do that God kills a kitten, everytime you support communists, God kills a thousand Dalits. Teach this as a mantra to your students, you can really make a big difference. Delete all contents from your pretentious website and start a campaign to let WalMart in. You will see what a big difference that will make. In fact, this will be even sweeter for you given that they will likely upset some upper-caste folks big time, like this dude (7th passage).
Note: This post also got puked on, see here.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Krish's World
Meet Krish, the blogger at www.krishworld.com. If you visit this site, you will find lots of useful (I am guessing) information and news about open source software. However, this isn't the most interesting side of Krish. For that you will have click here. Don't try to find that link on the main site, it isn't there.The reason I am writing this post is because I exchanged comments with him yesterday.
Well, like his hero Dr. Martin Luther King, Krish has a dream. In short, Krish's dream reads like the manifesto of pro-reservationists albeit crowned by this jewel:
" I have a dream that these people will understand that equality is more important than quality."
Allow me to digress a little bit here. Perhaps Krish doesn't know, Dr. King was accused of plagiarising about a third of his doctoral dissertation. Perhaps Krish should know, because he has shown a very keen interest in the recent Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism controversy.
Back to Krish again. How about a little introduction? In Krish's own words:
About me
My name is Krish and I am a 100% anti right wing person (on social issues). In my opinion, right wingers and people who support right wingers are a group of primitive human beings who are far from being civilized. Using evolution, I would say that they are the ancestors to the civilized people.
Fair enough, at one point of time man made the jump from primitives to civilized human beings. The question is how many generations back are we? Krish wouldn't say. Perhaps we should ask him, how many generations of reservations will the Dalits need?
I support Gandhian principles but I am very far away from getting into his level. It is evident from the harsh words I have for right wingers. In the above, by right wingers I mean right wingers on social front. On the economic side, I am on the right side.
Now, isn't that convenient? He is firmly on our side in economic matters. He wouldn't elaborate how exactly he draws the line.
This is followed by a stern warning:
If you are a hard nosed conservative, get lost. This is not a place for you. You are better off watching fox channel or visitng Kanchi Mutt or listening to some sermon in a madarasa. If you visit, in spite of this warning, your a** is going to be kicked here.
Guess I didn't pay heed to his warnings, so got my rear kicked here. In any case, since I was persistent in reading his blog, I thought perhaps a little bit of a lesson in common sense a la Krish couldn't hurt:
Common sense 101
Some people can understand deeper issues easily based on common sense. For many others, the very concept of common sense is not that common. Legally, external factors like reservations are not possible to "upgrade" their common sense. This is a basic 101 level course established to "educate" the weaker minds about deeper issues.
I didn't quite get the middle sentence, which basically proves Krish's point perhaps.A further exploration of Krish's site reveals his interest in a mind numbing array of subjects. Just like his love-hate relationship (or should we say parent-child because we are supposed to "evolve" into him) with right-wingers, he loves the media, hates the media, loves America, hates America, is concerned about global warming, media bias, fundamentalists, Hindutva, BJP, Aishwarya-Salman romance, Israeli couple rebuked for kissing ... the list goes on.
The pattern seemed familiar. Trying to solve all of world's problems with one broad stroke, impractical idealism, anguished tone. Perhaps we will not evolve into him after all. We will just wait till he evolves into one of us, the hated right-wingers!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Gaurav Apartments
Bloggers at The Other India blog wonder why a certain apartment complex developed by Dalits in New Delhi is not finding Upper Caste takers.
Well, here is why. If you want to have tenants, you had better not threaten them with genocide, suggest dividing up their country or claim that they are Jewish descendants.
A casual browsing of the sites DalitVoice, Dalitstan, Amberdkar.org and worldproutassembly will be enough to make your eyes pop out of their sockets. There is not a thing in the world they do not hate. Of course you would expect profuse amount of hatred directed against "Brahmins" and "Hindus". If you thought their anger is directed towards a certain section (and presumably for a good reason), here is a list of people or things they hate: Bill Gates, capitalism, Jews, Muslims, Christians, practically all newspapers of India, most if not all political parties, America, George Bush, Milton Friedman, Gandhi, large corporations - the list is almost endless.
Here is a sample passage from one of the sites:
The greatest crisis facing the Dalit community is the total alienation of its cream. This cream has been hinduised, meaning enslaved. They either marry Brahmin girls fascinated by the fair-skin or to hide their jati identity and hence a loss to the community. This is what made our Father, Dr. Ambedkar, to say in sorrow: "Educated people of my community have let me down".
I don't know about you but I am speechless.
Well, here is why. If you want to have tenants, you had better not threaten them with genocide, suggest dividing up their country or claim that they are Jewish descendants.
A casual browsing of the sites DalitVoice, Dalitstan, Amberdkar.org and worldproutassembly will be enough to make your eyes pop out of their sockets. There is not a thing in the world they do not hate. Of course you would expect profuse amount of hatred directed against "Brahmins" and "Hindus". If you thought their anger is directed towards a certain section (and presumably for a good reason), here is a list of people or things they hate: Bill Gates, capitalism, Jews, Muslims, Christians, practically all newspapers of India, most if not all political parties, America, George Bush, Milton Friedman, Gandhi, large corporations - the list is almost endless.
Here is a sample passage from one of the sites:
The greatest crisis facing the Dalit community is the total alienation of its cream. This cream has been hinduised, meaning enslaved. They either marry Brahmin girls fascinated by the fair-skin or to hide their jati identity and hence a loss to the community. This is what made our Father, Dr. Ambedkar, to say in sorrow: "Educated people of my community have let me down".
I don't know about you but I am speechless.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Non sequitur
As pointed out in my previous post, the Dalit bloggers at The Other India have turned on moderation and deleted all comments opposed to their views. They have cleverly kept comments open for the generic posts such as the ones about the ill treatment of women in India etc. quite obviously a lot of people took the bait and posted comments which makes it appear that they have a lot of supporters. This is the most sneaky approach I have ever seen on the blogosphere. Under the pretense of being socially conscientious, they promote their vicious agenda, i.e. generation after generation of entitlement benefits for their kids.
This is what they want to communicate:
- There is a severe water shortage in rural areas in India
- Drivers get paid pathetic little in New Delhi
- Roads in Indian cities are congested
- Various atrocities are committed against women in India
- Brahmins don't marry Dalits and their matrimonial ads have spelling mistakes
- Dalit lad Sourav will leave for Italy after getting his free degree from IIT
- Prominent blogger Rashmi Bansal's aunt made a comment about caste
- A homeless woman in London has blisters on her feet
Somehow all these "problems" will go away if enlightened Dalit T.A. Abinandan's kid (and his kid and his kid and his kid ......) gets free seats at IITs and IIMs. Somehow the 300 odd OBCs that get free seats in the IIMs and the 800 odd OBCs that get free seats in IITs from next year onwards will magically make the 300 million (ballpark* figure) below the poverty line disappear (just like 50 years of reservation north of 50% in all government jobs including legislature, judiciary and administration has done).
The Dalit spammer narayan/shylock reappeared and posted another long winded comment. He steered clear of my rebuttal to their anti-merit post. I posted my views on his comment.
(*) Used the American expression so the America lovin' Dalits understand it better.
A curious tidbit: Affirmative Action is known as Positive Discrimination in England. Well, it's discrimination alright but I don't see anything positive about it.
This is what they want to communicate:
- There is a severe water shortage in rural areas in India
- Drivers get paid pathetic little in New Delhi
- Roads in Indian cities are congested
- Various atrocities are committed against women in India
- Brahmins don't marry Dalits and their matrimonial ads have spelling mistakes
- Dalit lad Sourav will leave for Italy after getting his free degree from IIT
- Prominent blogger Rashmi Bansal's aunt made a comment about caste
- A homeless woman in London has blisters on her feet
Somehow all these "problems" will go away if enlightened Dalit T.A. Abinandan's kid (and his kid and his kid and his kid ......) gets free seats at IITs and IIMs. Somehow the 300 odd OBCs that get free seats in the IIMs and the 800 odd OBCs that get free seats in IITs from next year onwards will magically make the 300 million (ballpark* figure) below the poverty line disappear (just like 50 years of reservation north of 50% in all government jobs including legislature, judiciary and administration has done).
The Dalit spammer narayan/shylock reappeared and posted another long winded comment. He steered clear of my rebuttal to their anti-merit post. I posted my views on his comment.
(*) Used the American expression so the America lovin' Dalits understand it better.
A curious tidbit: Affirmative Action is known as Positive Discrimination in England. Well, it's discrimination alright but I don't see anything positive about it.
The current political backdrop
Neerja Chowdhury (Indian Express) writes an excellent article describing the political backdrop for Mandal II.
HRD minister’s quota card was less a joker than a calculated ploy to improve his own lot and, via Assembly elections two years hence in Madhya Pradesh, that of his son.
One of the mysteries the political circles are trying to unravel is why Arjun Singh floated the balloon of OBC reservation in premier educational institutions when he did. Singh, a politically savvy minister of the old school like Pranab Mukherjee, does not do things just like that.
.............
Some subscribe to the view that the PM wanted to move out Arjun Singh; the latter’s retaliation has made it difficult for the PM to act.
.............
There is another theory: Arjun Singh is positioning himself for APJ Abdul Kalam’s job next year, when presidential elections are due.
.............
Then there is Madhya Pradesh politics. With elections due in 2008, and the possibility of the Congress coming back to power, OBC politics could help Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh in state politics.
.............
The difference is this: While mainstream parties, including the BJP and the Congress, had strongly opposed Mandal I, no one is opposing Mandal II. It is a political reality no political group is prepared to confront.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Not sure where we are going with this
Will have to revisit this post, but for now let me just post this news snippet from TOI which has left me speechless:
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Friday said he was not averse to granting reservation to children from the upper castes.
"I have no objection for provision of 5 to 10 per cent reservation to upper castes children by amending the Constitution", he told reporters on the sidelines of a Conference of Railway General Managers here.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Friday said he was not averse to granting reservation to children from the upper castes.
"I have no objection for provision of 5 to 10 per cent reservation to upper castes children by amending the Constitution", he told reporters on the sidelines of a Conference of Railway General Managers here.
Reaction to IITian's suicide an eye-opener
This unfortunate event is case in point why reservations will perpetuate the caste-system instead of eliminating it.
"I am ashamed to admit it, but a part of me is glad that it was Shailesh Sharma, and not Shailesh Kumar - who are all SC/STs by default, according to some well-read people who I happen to know. "Who else would want to hide their caste?", they wonder. Thanks for telling me, I say to myself."
Vivek Kumar's blog points to an email making rounds these days where people are wondering whether the deceased belonged to the reserved category.
The reservation system creates a huge moral conundrum for people. They are forced to acknowledge differences between people on the basis of caste, when there is no economic or social need to do so.
The Dalit bloggers at The Other India do not seem to get it.
"Sub-caste no bar, but note that the two operative words are “Gaur Brahmin” and precede - as they must in every matrimonial ad - the qualifications of MNC jobs or American residency."
I do not see why is it important for Dalits to be able to marry people from other castes. As usual, in the article they quote prominent blogger Rashmi Bansal out of context to make it appear as if people wanting to marry a certain type of individuals are some sort of monsters.
"Caste-based reservations promote casteism, say my well-intentioned friends. But casteism already exists, just see the matrimonial pages. Casteism is not untouchability or discrimination. Casteism is a system of social stratification and, if I may say so, the upper-caste is as much a ‘victim’ of it as anyone else in the sense that the upper-caste individual is also condemned to belong to his caste."
Well, so long as the reservation system continues, good luck in breaking out of the "social stratification".
"I am ashamed to admit it, but a part of me is glad that it was Shailesh Sharma, and not Shailesh Kumar - who are all SC/STs by default, according to some well-read people who I happen to know. "Who else would want to hide their caste?", they wonder. Thanks for telling me, I say to myself."
Vivek Kumar's blog points to an email making rounds these days where people are wondering whether the deceased belonged to the reserved category.
The reservation system creates a huge moral conundrum for people. They are forced to acknowledge differences between people on the basis of caste, when there is no economic or social need to do so.
The Dalit bloggers at The Other India do not seem to get it.
"Sub-caste no bar, but note that the two operative words are “Gaur Brahmin” and precede - as they must in every matrimonial ad - the qualifications of MNC jobs or American residency."
I do not see why is it important for Dalits to be able to marry people from other castes. As usual, in the article they quote prominent blogger Rashmi Bansal out of context to make it appear as if people wanting to marry a certain type of individuals are some sort of monsters.
"Caste-based reservations promote casteism, say my well-intentioned friends. But casteism already exists, just see the matrimonial pages. Casteism is not untouchability or discrimination. Casteism is a system of social stratification and, if I may say so, the upper-caste is as much a ‘victim’ of it as anyone else in the sense that the upper-caste individual is also condemned to belong to his caste."
Well, so long as the reservation system continues, good luck in breaking out of the "social stratification".
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Victory?
From TOI:
Amid opposition from the private sector to reserving jobs for SCs and STs, the government on Tuesday said it will not impose quotas on India Inc, but only wanted more 'affirmative action' from the industry for the socially underprivileged.
I am taking this with a large pinch of salt. Specifically this gives the opposition a potential trump card.
Not taking out the victory procession yet. Also concerned that the IIT/IIM quota wallahs will renew their demands as a quid pro quo.
Meanwhile student agitation is gaining momentum:
The anti-reservation rally in the capital, taken out by over 1000 medical students of the five premier colleges of city, was joined by Delhi University students as well as school students.
Can they prevent the Mandalization of the premier institutes? Only time can tell. I just hope it does not lead to ugly confrontations.
Meanwhile, there was a sort of a face-off between the agitating students and pro-reservation rallyists as they gathered at the same venue -- Jantar Mantar -- to hold their demonstrations.
My advice to protesting students would be to keep away from physical harm because the pro-reservationist rallies are organized by political parties and are likely to have professional thugs and career criminals,
Amid opposition from the private sector to reserving jobs for SCs and STs, the government on Tuesday said it will not impose quotas on India Inc, but only wanted more 'affirmative action' from the industry for the socially underprivileged.
I am taking this with a large pinch of salt. Specifically this gives the opposition a potential trump card.
Not taking out the victory procession yet. Also concerned that the IIT/IIM quota wallahs will renew their demands as a quid pro quo.
Meanwhile student agitation is gaining momentum:
The anti-reservation rally in the capital, taken out by over 1000 medical students of the five premier colleges of city, was joined by Delhi University students as well as school students.
Can they prevent the Mandalization of the premier institutes? Only time can tell. I just hope it does not lead to ugly confrontations.
Meanwhile, there was a sort of a face-off between the agitating students and pro-reservation rallyists as they gathered at the same venue -- Jantar Mantar -- to hold their demonstrations.
My advice to protesting students would be to keep away from physical harm because the pro-reservationist rallies are organized by political parties and are likely to have professional thugs and career criminals,
Update
I have removed the title bar picture as requested by readers. Now my blog should be work safe. However., I still urge you to exercise caution. I will re-design the site soon as I can and make it easier to navigate. Feedbacks, suggestions are welcome.
Please keep the fire alive.
- Barbarindian.
Please keep the fire alive.
- Barbarindian.
Monday, May 01, 2006
The Economist window dresses quota proposal
Much as I hate it, I subscribe The Economist because it complements my business education. This liberal mouthpiece finally published a story titled Caste and cash (subscription required) on the reservation issue.
As a matter of fact, I was quite curious as to whether The Economist will cover this story at all. On one hand they do like Affirmative Action. On the other, the monstrocity called reservations as it exists in India must baffle them out of their wits. So, I made a bet with my friend that they will simply ignore the issue. Mind you, this magazine pretty much publishes any sensational news at any corner of the world. Some recent India coverage include even state level elections.
So, finally I see that they have broken their silence. I was surprised when I read the story. They basically gave the story a new spin:
INDIA's business leaders have recently been enjoying the benefits of becoming internationally competitive, after decades of leaden regulation. Now, they have taken fright. The reason is an inferred warning that the government is thinking of setting quotas for the number of people from the poorly-educated bottom end of the Hindu caste system they should employ.
Then the article elaborates on the speech by PM at the CII conference and Azim Premji's now famous reaction. As far as our PM's atrocious demand that private companies do more, this is what they say:
Mr Singh had been characteristically mild. All he did was urge companies to assess “the diversity in your employee profile”, and commit themselves, voluntarily, to broadening their workforce and to taking a more active social role.
Well, all Mr Singh did was to expectorate, micturate and defecate upon the rights of the few enterprising individuals of our country. Note the emphasis on "voluntarily". Yeah, it is about as voluntary as pouring molten lead down someone's throat.
“Scheduled” castes and tribes—the lowest groups in India's caste system—have had claim to just over 20% of government and other public-sector jobs since 1950.
Sounds like they are prevented from taking up employment. Adding the caste word to this statement gives it a sensational spin to the casual western reader.
Buried deep in the article, an almost unnoticeable sentence mentions about the quota in educational insitutes:
In a separate initiative, the human-resources ministry has horrified industry, academia and students by proposing a reservation of 27% of places in universities and management and technical institutions for “backward castes”, on top of the 22.5% already reserved for scheduled castes and tribes.
And finally, the punchline:
The threat of quota laws will not easily be dismissed.
The one sentence in the whole article I think is dead on.
As a matter of fact, I was quite curious as to whether The Economist will cover this story at all. On one hand they do like Affirmative Action. On the other, the monstrocity called reservations as it exists in India must baffle them out of their wits. So, I made a bet with my friend that they will simply ignore the issue. Mind you, this magazine pretty much publishes any sensational news at any corner of the world. Some recent India coverage include even state level elections.
So, finally I see that they have broken their silence. I was surprised when I read the story. They basically gave the story a new spin:
INDIA's business leaders have recently been enjoying the benefits of becoming internationally competitive, after decades of leaden regulation. Now, they have taken fright. The reason is an inferred warning that the government is thinking of setting quotas for the number of people from the poorly-educated bottom end of the Hindu caste system they should employ.
Then the article elaborates on the speech by PM at the CII conference and Azim Premji's now famous reaction. As far as our PM's atrocious demand that private companies do more, this is what they say:
Mr Singh had been characteristically mild. All he did was urge companies to assess “the diversity in your employee profile”, and commit themselves, voluntarily, to broadening their workforce and to taking a more active social role.
Well, all Mr Singh did was to expectorate, micturate and defecate upon the rights of the few enterprising individuals of our country. Note the emphasis on "voluntarily". Yeah, it is about as voluntary as pouring molten lead down someone's throat.
“Scheduled” castes and tribes—the lowest groups in India's caste system—have had claim to just over 20% of government and other public-sector jobs since 1950.
Sounds like they are prevented from taking up employment. Adding the caste word to this statement gives it a sensational spin to the casual western reader.
Buried deep in the article, an almost unnoticeable sentence mentions about the quota in educational insitutes:
In a separate initiative, the human-resources ministry has horrified industry, academia and students by proposing a reservation of 27% of places in universities and management and technical institutions for “backward castes”, on top of the 22.5% already reserved for scheduled castes and tribes.
And finally, the punchline:
The threat of quota laws will not easily be dismissed.
The one sentence in the whole article I think is dead on.
